(EnergyAsia, August 5 2011, Friday) — Mongolia’s state mining company Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi (ETT) has sealed an agreement to export US$250 million worth of coal to Aluminium Corp of China Ltd (Chalco) for up to 18 months. As part of the agreement, the Chinese state company will resell 30% of the coal from the east...

(EnergyAsia, August 5 2011, Friday) — Sinopec Group, China’s largest integrated energy and chemical company, has started work on building a 100,000-tonne-per-year lubricants plant in Singapore, its first outside China. The 580-million yuan plant, located in Tuas in the south western part of Singapore, will operate as Sinopec’s Asia Pacific regional hub servicing customers in Southeast...

(EnergyAsia, August 5 2011, Friday) — The board of Australia Pacific LNG has approved a proposal to invest US$20 billion in the first phase of a two-train liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Queensland, said Australia’s Origin Energy Limited which jointly owns the company with US ConocoPhillips. The approval will result in investment in the...

(EnergyAsia, August 4 2011, Thursday) — China’s economic juggernaut faces the additional challenge of rising energy shortages and costs just as its main export markets in Europe and the US slide further into recession and financial chaos. Following bouts of crippling power shortages in the country’s central region from the effects of drought followed by...

(EnergyAsia, August 4 2011, Thursday) — The Japanese court recently ruled in favour of FSL Trust and FSL-19 Pte Ltd in setting aside the arrest of the ‘Verona I’ tanker, (now renamed FSL Singapore), by Daxin Petroleum Pte Ltd, said FSL Trust Management Pte Ltd (FSLTM), the trustee-manager of FSL Trust. The two Singapore companies...

(EnergyAsia, August 4 2011, Thursday) — China’s Yanzhou Coal said its subsidiary has acquired Syntech Resources Pty Ltd, which owns coal reserves in the Surat Basin of southern Queensland state, for A$202.5  million. (US$1=A$0.90). This is Yancoal’s second major acquisition in Australia, following its A$3.5 billion takeover of Felix Resources in 2009. According to Brisbane-based...

(EnergyAsia, August 3 2011, Wednesday) — China’s coal imports fell 11.8% in the first half of the year to 70.49 million tonnes as rising domestic output helped meet the country’s growing demand for the fuel, said the China National Coal Association. Exports also declined, by 13.7%, to 8.75 million tonnes as the government ordered coal...

(EnergyAsia, August 3 2011, Wednesday) — China Guodian Corporation said it has started building a large plant with the annual capacity to convert coal to four billion cubic metres of gas in Nileke county in northwestern Xinjiang province. Guodian has awarded the contract to subsidiary, Nileke Energy & Chemical Engineering, to develop the RMB26.8 billion...

(EnergyAsia, August 3 2011, Wednesday) — International law firm Herbert Smith said it and its Indonesian associate, Hiswara Bunjamin & Tandjung (HBT), jointly advised Hong Kong-listed eForce Holdings Limited on its recent HK$500 million acquisition of Fastport Investments Holdings Limited that indirectly holds a mining concession right over the PT Bara coal mine located in...

(EnergyAsia, August 2 2011, Tuesday) — Sino Clean Energy Inc , a leading producer and distributor of coal-water slurry fuel (CWSF) in China, said it recently signed a non-binding preliminary agreement to fully acquire Crown Energy Limited, a Hong Kong investment company, which holds a 60% stake in Foshan Nan Hai CWSF Co Ltd. If...

(EnergyAsia, August 2 2011, Tuesday) — A consortium comprising Japan’s Marubeni Corporation and Germany’s Siemens Group has received a letter of intent from the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) to construct two combined cycle power plants with a total capacity of 1,600MW. The Chana Block 2 plant in Songkhla province and Wang Noi Block...

(EnergyAsia, August 2 2011, Tuesday) — Australian mining giant BHP Billiton experienced contrasting fortunes for its metallurgical or met and thermal coal operations for the first half of this year. Its met coal production fell 13% to 32.68 million tonnes compared with the same period last year, while its thermal coal production rose 5% to 69.5...

(EnergyAsia, August 1 2011, Monday) — Hong Kong-listed King Stone Energy Group Limited said it has agreed to acquired Inner Mongolia Liaoyuan Coal Mining Company Limited (or Liaoyuan Coal) for RMB500 million in cash. (US$1=RMB6.45). King Stone Energy said it will pay for the stake in three separate instalments entirely from its internal resources by...

(EnergyAsia, August 1 2011, Monday) — Switzerland-based Foster Wheeler AG said a subsidiary of its Global Engineering and Construction Group has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to form a jointly-owned company with The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) in Azerbaijan. SOCAR is a state-owned company engaged oil and gas exploration, production, transportation...

(EnergyAsia, August 1 2011, Monday) — Making its first foreign investment, Indian Metals and Ferro Alloys (IMFA) said its Singapore-based subsidiary, Indmet Mining Pte Limited, has paid US$8.75 million for a 70% stake in a coal mine in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. The Orissa state-based company, controlled by the Rajya Sabha family, will invest millions more...

(EnergyAsia, August 1 2011, Monday) — Coal accounted for a third of Mongolia’s US$1.163 billion export earnings in the first four months of 2011. The increased prices and volume of mineral sales boosted export earnings of the landlocked resource-rich country by more than 59.4% over the same period last year. The National Statistics Office said...

(EnergyAsia, July 29 2011, Friday) — Foster Wheeler SOFCON, an unincorporated consortium between a subsidiary of Foster Wheeler’s Engineering and Construction Group and A. Al-Saihati, A. Fattani & O. Al-Othman Consulting Engineering Co., (SOFCON), has been awarded a contract by Saudi Aramco to provide front-end engineering design (FEED) and management services for the Clean Transportation...

(EnergyAsia, July 29 2011, Friday) — China Aviation Oil Singapore Corporation Ltd (CAO), Asia’s largest jet fuel trader, said it has signed a non-binding strategic cooperation agreement with China Development Bank Corporation (CDB), giving it access to up to US$3 billion to finance its expansion including asset acquisitions and oil trading activities. With the July...

(EnergyAsia, July 28 2011, Thursday) — China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the country’s leading oil producer, has started up a joint-venture refinery with the Chadian government just outside the Central African country’s capital city of N’djamena. The one-million-tonne-a-year plant was officially opened last month at a ceremony attended by Chad’s President Idriss Deby and Prime...

(EnergyAsia, July 28 2011, Thursday) — China, the world’s second-largest oil user, could expand its refining capacity by a third to 13.3 million b/d between now and 2016, said the International Energy Agency (IEA). China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), the country’s two biggest oil and gas producers, own...

(EnergyAsia, July 28 2011, Thursday) — Energy-poor Tajikistan has started building its first oil refinery to meet its rising domestic fuel demands and reduce its energy dependency on Russia. Tajik President Emomali Rahmon attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the privately-owned 100,000-ton/year plant in the western part of the country. Rustam Dustov, a local businessman who...

(EnergyAsia, July 27 2011, Wednesday) — Italian oil major ENI and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec), Asia’s largest oil refiner, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to cooperate on projects in Africa and to jointly develop shale gas assets. The agreement expands ENI’s growing interest to develop its China ties. In January, Italy’s...

(EnergyAsia, July 27 2011, Wednesday) — Iraq’s oil ministry and the Karbala Corporation Refinery (KRC) have signed an agreement to jointly invest in a 200,000 b/d refinery in the country’s central Karbala region. Operator KRC has awarded the main EPC contract for the long-delayed project to Italian engineering firm Saipem. The ministry said the US$6.5...

(EnergyAsia, July 27 2011, Wednesday) — Malaysian engineering companies KNM Group Bhd and Zecon Bhd sai they have signed agreements with Gulf Asian Petroleum Sdn Bhd (GAP) to develop its proposed refinery, petrochemical and oil storage projects at Teluk Ramunia in Malaysia’s Johor state. KNM said the heads of agreements involved engineering procurement and construction...

(EnergyAsa, July 27 2011, Wednesday) — Malaysia will import liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar starting 2013 under a long-term contract signed between state oil and gas company Petronas and Qatargas. Wholly-owned subsidiary Petronas LNG Ltd, formerly known as ASEAN LNG Trading Company, signed an agreement with Qatargas in Doha City in Qatar last week...